This might sound a little ridiculous, but here it goes.
I am a senior in high school trying to figure out what the heck to do with my life. I got a 33 on my ACT and plan to take it one more time. I live in northeast Nebraska, about three hours away from both Lincoln and Omaha. I have always been a highly motivated student, and I’m fairly confident that I would be able to attend nearly an college that I want. I also have an interest in playing baseball at the collegiate level. I don’t think I have the talent to play Division I, but I think I could make a Divison III team and perhaps a Division II team. Anyway, I’m struggling to find a college I’m interest in. Some of the things I’m looking for in a college are:
-Fairly prestigious (Looking for a school with an average ACT of 30ish)
-Conservative (As a moderate conservative, I can’t see myself being surrounded by progressives or liberals at a school like Macalester)
-Rural or suburban setting, but not too far from a city (within an hour or so)
-Generous need-based and merit-based financial aid
-Preferably a liberal arts college (not a huge deal)
-Smaller school (1,000-15,000 students, but not a huge deal)
-Within six or seven hours from home
I am currently wavering on the last criterion. I think I would be interested in getting away from home and seeing the world, however, I love my hometown and don’t know if I could handle being so far from home. Any thoughts? I always seem to find a college that I’m interested in, and then learn something about it that just seems like a dealbreaker.
Carleton is extremely liberal. St. Olaf in the same town might be another possibility for the OP. ACT composite is 26-32, offers good merit aid and offers decent need-based aid, has Division iii baseball and is generally considered somewhat moderate by LAC standards.
I have looked at Carleton, Macalester, and St. Olaf’s. From what a hear though, Both Carleton and Mac and very left-wing. Also, I dunno how I would enjoy playing baseball in the freezing temperatures of Minnesota. It’s something that I would put up with if everything else about the college is perfect, but I’m not so sure about those two. What does St. Olaf’s look like politically-speaking?
How about St. Olaf? Slightly lower ACT range, but a tad more conservative than Carleton.
Also, I am wondering if you have a clear picture of college finances. Usually if you get a fair amount of need based aid, they use any merit aid to reduce the need based aid. So your cost of attendance (what you pay) stays the same. Sometimes they reduce loans, but it varies between schools. You need to run the net price calculator on each school’s website to see what you might be expected to pay.
Keep in mind that most college campuses that aren’t religion-based will be at least somewhat liberal. I am a conservative going to a liberal school, and as long as you respect other people’s views and keep an open mind, it’s not really a big deal. Besides, most Minnesotans are too nice to make a big deal about any political differences! But I do sympathize with the winter thing…
I probably could stand to do a little more research on the finances. I did know that a lot of schools reduced your need-based package based on whatever you receive for a merit-based award.
On a different note, what do you think of going to a far-away college? I am very close to my family. My sibling, however, don’t live at home anymore anyway. I would probably miss the hell out of my mom and dad being so far away, but how many visits home would I actually miss out on? I wouldn’t be able to come home whenever I wanted, but I could still travel back for the holidays and breaks, etc.
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Generous need-based and merit-based financial aid
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Tends to be one or the other.
For need based aid schools, your parents will have to pay their calculated “family contribution”. Have you asked them how much they’ll pay? (both parents, even divorced).
What are your parents saying?
Merit gets applied to need first. It will not reduce what your parents have to pay unless it is soooooo large that it will cover all of need and then reduce EFC.
Have your parents run some NPCs and see what they say.
My parents have expressed that they aren’t willing to pay anything for my college, which I’m fine with. My sisters all managed to have their college paid for, granted they all went to cheaper public institutions. And I’m not saying I need both good need-based and merit-based, I’m just saying is that I need enough to ensure that I won’t have a metric crapton of debt.
However, many schools will apply merit to replace student loan and work-study (which typically amount to $5,000 to $10,000 in the financial aid package) before reducing grants.
Each school should have a net price calculator on its web site to estimate need-based aid. Some schools have merit scholarships awarded by stats and may ask stats and estimate merit scholarships in the net price calculator.
You need to run NPCs and see what you get - for example, if your parents aren’t willing to pay anything, but they make enough to pay something then schools that meet full financial need might not work. Rather than spending time on a list of difficult to satisfy factors, you really need to pin down your money situation first, because it might well be the major factor in your decision.
That said, even if money were not the driver, there are very very few schools that would satisfy all of your criteria and I definitely think you need to broaden your geographical search (however, then you have to factor in travel costs into your expenses). St. Olaf meets most of your criteria. Denison is outside of the distance you have suggested but is another good choice. You might want to look at Trinity University in San Antonio and Elizabethtown College in PA (you might be a candidate for the full ride Stamps Scholarship).
I just don’t think you should take the approach that you can order up a school and ‘poof’ it exists. Look at what there is that fits best. You can’t get everything you want, you have to have less rigidity.
So your options are quite different if your parents won’t help you. Running the net price calculator has to be a top priority for you. Because you can only borrow $5,500 yourself freshman year, and slightly higher amounts in later years. Any other loans would be your parents’ or cosigned by an adult. So you need to see what your expected cost of attendance is. Just because your parents won’t pay doesn’t change the expectation of colleges of what they ask you to pay.
You can only borrow $5500 as a frosh, $6500 as a soph, and $7500/year as a junior & senior, so if you’re paying for college on your own the top item on your “fit” requirement list needs to be cost.
If your parents will fill out the FAFSA (and/or CSS profile for schools that require it) you may qualify for the federal Pell grant of up to $5k/year. (They have to fill out FAFSA for you to get the loan.) Parent income can’t be more than ~$60k or so for you to qualify. Do the FAFSA4caster or run some Net Price Calculators to get an estimate of your cost. You need schools that give lots of merit aid, need based aid, or a good combination. Some highly selective schools don’t give merit aid, so if your parents make too much to qualify for their need based aid I wouldn’t bother applying to those types of schools.
Focus on schools where you can get substantial merit aid. Make sure you have a couple of financial safeties on your list, plus a few matches and reaches.
Check out Grove City College and HIllsdale. Unfortunately they are both outside your donut but tend to be reasonably priced politically conservative LAC that do their own financial aid. They may not be quite as high up the academic ladder as you are looking for, however, to get the best financial aid the more you are separating from the average the better. You may not find the “perfect fit” but if you are willing to compromise you should find something that will work well. If you have to fund it yourself your safety will likely be a local public university or community college.